Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Maliki Goes After Rival Governments in Diyala, Wasit and Basra

In the last few months Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s
State of Law (SOL) list has been moving against provincial governments in
Diyala, Wasit, and Basra that largely excluded them after last year’s
elections. The modus operandi has been the same all three governorates: a
member of SOL on the provincial council sues the local administration over how
the government was put together and the Maliki friendly courts have ruled them
unconstitutional. That has led to the creation of two rival governments in
Diyala, an attempt is underway to get rid of the one in Wasit, and Basra might
be next.

State of Law first made a move against the Diyala provincial
government. In October 2013, the Integrity Commission issued an arrest
warrant for Governor Omar Humairi on corruption charges. At the same time,
the Diyala National Coalition, which was just State of Law by then, went
to court saying that how the ruling coalition was formed was illegal. The
Diyala government was formed
in June 2013 after provincial elections. It was made up of Iraqiya Diyala
consisting of Speaker of Parliament Osama Nujafi’s Mutahidun and Deputy Premier
Saleh al-Mutlaq’s Iraqi National Dialogue Front, the Kurdish Brotherhood and
Coexistence List, and the Sadrists’ Ahrar/Liberal bloc. The Sadrists were
originally part of the Diyala National Coalition, but abandoned it to shut
State of Law out of the new administration. That was the basis for the SOL
lawsuit.

Diyala Governor Humairi was removed by a State of Law
initiated lawsuit (Al Masalah)

The court ruled in favor of State of Law, and this led to
the creation of two rival administrations. First, Humairi claimed
that Maliki didn’t have the authority to remove him. He ended up fleeing
to Kurdistan to escape the warrant out for him. At the end of January 2014,
his supporters in Iraqiya Diyala, the Sadrists and the Brotherhood and
Coexistence List met
in Khanaqin, a Kurdish controlled district of the province and re-elected
Humairi governor. Just a few days beforehand the other members of the
provincial council picked
Muthanna al-Tamimifrom Badr within
the Diyala National Coalition as the new head of council, and Ameer Salman Yacoub
as the new governor. The two rival governments condemned each other calling
their elections illegal. Since Yacoub and Tamimi are in the provincial seat and
have the support of Maliki they will have control of the province, while
Humairi will be limited to the Kurdish controlled parts of Diyala. Despite this
the premier accomplished his goal. A local government that had shut out his
coalition was forced out, and now a friendly one was put in place. This was
thanks to the courts, which are Maliki-friendly. With this model in place the
prime minister moved on to other governorates.

A similar set of circumstances played out in Wasit. There,
the Supreme Council’s Citizen’s Alliance and the Sadrists cooperated
to form a ruling coalition of all the winning parties with the exception of
State of Law. That gave the governorship to the Supreme Council and the head of
council to Ahrar. Again, Maliki’s list sued claiming that the formation process
was unconstitutional, and won a favorable ruling on March 3. (1) The provincial
police chief was then issued orders to remove the government from office. That
hasn’t happened yet, but Maliki has once again relied upon the judiciary to get
rid of a provincial authority he did not agree with. Unlike in Diyala where
State of Law was completely shut out of the administration, in Wasit it got the
2nd deputy governor position. That made the court decision all the
more questionable, and highlights that the courts are in the pocket of the
prime minister.

A third case is now pending against the Basra government. There
State of Law won the most seats, 16 of 35 and got the head of council position,
while the Citizen’s Alliance won the governorship. It appears SOL was not happy
with that and now wants the top job. Just as in Diyala and Wasit a member of
SOL has gone
to court challenging how the ruling coalition was put together. March 6 the
judiciary said that it was postponing the appeal against the Basra
administration. Given the other two rulings however if Maliki wants the Basra
government removed he will get it.

After the 2013 provincial elections State of Law was
excluded from several local governments. This was mostly the work of the
Sadrist’s Ahrar. It saw the opportunity to assert itself and take on the prime
minister. Diyala and Wasit were two examples. Maliki was obviously not happy
with that. He didn’t act immediately after the vote, but he is now taking his
revenge by getting the Diyala and Wasit governments ruled illegal by the
courts. Basra is a more blatant power play since SOL was part of the ruling
coalition and has the head of the council. There it appears Maliki wants the
governorship. There is little that these administrations can do since the
premier has control of the judiciary, the purse, and the security forces. The
rival administration of Humairi in Diyala can do little, and it’s yet to be
seen how things will play out in Wasit and Basra. This is a very bad sign for
Iraq’s developing democracy. It undermines the will of the voters since only in
Basra did State of Law get the most votes. It also makes the whole process of
putting together a government meaningless. Maliki’s manipulations of the courts
means that even if his party was a minority they can remove any administration
that displeases them and take power. Finally it is a foreboding series of
events before this year’s election, because it could mean that the prime minister
will resort to the courts if things do not go his way as a means to hold onto
power.

FOOTNOTES

1. Sotaliraq, “Wasit police chief stripped the governor and
members of his bloc of positions,” 3/6/14

Iraq History Timeline

About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com